Circuit controller



July 18, 1961 J. R. CANADAY CIRCUIT CONTROLLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 29, 1958 HIGH LOW

INVENTOR. Joe R. Canaday /1/1 I rlALAfALI July 18, 1961 R, ANADAY2,993,098

CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Filed Sept. 29, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 74 74 74 f f f(I -\jl \J' L AL P 0 INVENTOR. Joe R. Oanaday B His Attorney July 18,1961 Filed Sept. 29, 1958 J. R. CANADAY '08 8ll28 I308 98 6 I CIRCUITCONTROLLER Sheets-Sheet 3 g 84 av Fig. .9

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His Attorney United States Patent i 2,993,098 CIRCUIT CONTROLLER Joe R.Canaday, Anderson, Ind., assignor to General Motors Corporation,Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 29, 1958, Ser. No.764,122 4*Claims. (Cl. 200--) This invention relates to electricalswitches, and more particularly to electrical switches that are adaptedto complete a pair of electrical circuits, one of which is completedonly momentarily and the other of which is completed simultaneously withthe completion of the momentary circuit.

It is an object of this invention to provide an electric switch thatincludes a push button actuator that closes a momentary circuit throughthe switch and wherein slidable movement of the actuator operates tomove a second actuator that completes a second circuit through theswitch.

Another object of this invention is to provide an electric switch havinga pair of manually operable actuators, one of which is of the pushbutton type that operates the second actuator to a predeterminedposition and wherein each actuator operates to complete separatecircuits through the switch.

A further object of this invention is to provide an electric switch ofthe type wherein a manually operable actuator slides between aninsulator block and a housing, and wherein the actuator carries anelectrical contact that engages contacts supported by the insulatorblock, there being a second manually operable actuator that moves thefirst actuator a predetermined distance when it is depressed, the secondactuator operating to momentarily complete a circuit when it isdepressed.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention isclearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an electric switch made in accordance withthis invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged plan view of the electric switch of FIGURE 1illustrating the relative positions of the two actuators of this switch.

FIGURE 5 is a circuit diagram of the electric switch illustrated inFIGURES 1 through 4.

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a modified electric switch made in accordancewith this invention.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along line 77 of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 8 is an end view of the switch illustrated in FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 7, but showing certain ofthe parts of the switch moved to a shifted position.

FIGURE 10 is a plan view of the interior of the insulator block of theelectric switch of this invention.

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view taken along line 1111 of FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 12 is a plan view of an electrical contactor shown in FIGURES 7and 9.

FIGURE 13 is a circuit diagram of the electric switch illustrated inFIGURES 6 through 12.

The electric switch of this invention has more or less generalapplication, but is particularly adapted for use as a grounding switchin a coordinated Washer and wiper Patented July 18, 1961 control systemas illustrated in application Serial No. 709,056, filed January 15,1958, and assigned to the as signee of this invention.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 1 through 4, the electricswitch illustrated in these figures includes an insulator block 10formed of suitable insulating material which carries three strapconnectors 12, 14 and 16. The ends of these connectors are adapted tofit within a female electric connector as is well known to those skilledin the art. The connector 12 is fixed to the insulator block 10 by meansof a rivet 18 which also serves to hold a conducting segment 20 inplace. The conducting strap 14 is held to insulator block 10 by means ofa rivet 22 which also serves to hold a second conducting segment 24 inplace with respect to the insulator block. The third conducting strap 16is held to the insulator block by means of a rivet 26, and this rivethas a head 29 that forms an electrical contact for the switch, as willbecome more readily apparent hereinafter. The conducting segments 20 and24 are located in the same plane as the rivet head 29 and also serve toform electrical contacts for the switch.

The insulator block 10 is supported from a housing 28 formed of die castmetal by means of one or more screws 30 which pass through the insulatorblock, and which are threaded into the housing 28. The housing 28carries a first actuator designated by reference numeral 32 andincluding a knob portion 34. The actuator 32 has portions 36 and 38journalled within opposed openings formed respectively in the insulatorblock and in the housing 28. The actuator or lever 32 is thus pivotallysupported by the housing and insulator block, and the lever swingsaround an axis that passes through portions 36 and 38 of the lever. Thelever is preferably formed of metal material and has a projection 39that is adapted to engage within detent recesses formed in the lowerwall 40 of the housing. The projection 38 and the recesses cooperate toform detents for the lever 32.

The lever 32, as is better illustrated in FIGURE 4, has an extension 42which is adapted to be engaged by the push button actuator 44illustrated in section in FIGURE 3. The lever 32 has three recesses 45,46 and 47. The recesses and 47 receive the ends of an electrical contact48, whereas the recess 46 receives a spring 49 that urges the electricalcontact into engagement with fixed contacts 20 and 24. It will beapparent from the foregoing, that the contact 48 swings across the innerface of insulator block 10 to engage the fixed contacts in apredetermined sequence. As illustrated in FIGURE 5, the contact points50 and 51 of the contactor 48 engage both conducting segments 20 and 24in one position of the switch, and contact point 51 only engages contactsegment 20 in another position of the lever 32. In a third position ofthe lever, the contact point 50 only engages the conducting segment 24.

The push button 44 is slidably disposed between the housing 28 and theinsulator block 10. The push button 44 engages one side wall 53 of thehousing 28, and a second wall 54 is provided which insures that the pushbutton will slide along a fixed axis. The push button actuator has aportion 56 that is operated by the user of the switch, and the pushbutton has a recess 58 which receives a spring 60 and a bullet-nosedcontactor 62. The spring 60 urges the contactor 62 against the innerface of insulator block 10. The push button actuator 44 is normallymaintained in the position of FIGURE 3 by a spring 64 positioned betweenthe push button and an end wall of insulator block 10. It will beappreciated that when the push button 44 is depressed inwardly, thecontact 62 engages fixed contact 29 to complete a circuit between thepush button 44 and the contact 29.

The push button 44 has an extension 65 which engages the extension '42of lever 32 during certain predetermined positions of the push button.Thus, when the lever 32 is in its fully clockwise position in FIGURE 4,a depression of push button 56 will cause the lever to move from itsfull line position in FIGURE 4 to the first dotted line position just tothe left of the full line position. Once the lever has been moved to thelow position, the further inward movement or depressing of lever 44 willnot operate to move the lever 32, as the push button cannot be depressedsufiiciently to cause this movement. The lever may then be movedmanually from the upright low position to the fully counterclockwisehigh position by manual actuation of lever 32.

The lever 32, of course, can always be operated manually withoutimpediment by the push button 44-. It will also be apparent that thelever 32 must be returned to its off position after the lever 44 hasactuated it to its low position, as the returning of lever 44 to itsnormal position by spring 64 has no effect on the movement of lever 32.

As has been noted hereinbefore, the switch just described isparticularly adapted for use as a grounding switch and has particularutility in the coordinated wiper and washer circuit of the aboveidentified copending application. Thus, it will be appreciated that thehousing 28 will be secured to the metal dashboard of a motor vehicle sothat it will be at ground potential in a motor vehicle electricalsystem. With the housing 28 at ground potential, it is apparent thatboth levers 32 and 44 are also at ground potential, so that contacts 48and 62 are at all times grounded and thus complete circuits to groundfor fixed contacts 20, 24, and 29. The contacts 20 and 24 and contactor48 are used to control the electric motor that drives the wiper bladesof a windshield wiping apparatus, whereas the fixed contact 29 andcontactor 62 complete a circuit for the washer apparatus of a windshieldwashing system of a motor vehicle of the type referred to in the aboveidentified copending application. Thus, it will be apparent that whenthe push button 44 is depressed, the wash circuit for the coordinatedwashing and wiper control will be completed simultaneously with thecompletion of a circuit for the electric motor. The motor circuit willbe made by the shorting of contacts 20 and 24, and the motor will run inits low speed condition. The motor, of course, can always be controlledby movement of lever 32 which moves contactor 48 in relation to contactsegments 20 and 24. Although the switch just described has particularutility in the washerwiper system in the above identified copendingapplication, it will be readily apparent that the switch will haveutility in any circuit arrangement wherein it is desired to complete twoelectrical circuits simultaneously, and where one of the circuits needonly be closed momentarily.

In FIGURES 6 through 12, a modified electric switch, made in accordancewith this invention, is illustrated. This switch, like the switch ofFIGURES 1 through 4, is adapted to be used with the washer-wiper systemof the above identified application, and like the switch of FIG- URES 1through 4, is a grounding-type switch which completes circuits toground. Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 6 through 12, it isseen that the switch includes an insulator block 70 formed of anysuitable insulating material and having side walls 71 and 72. A metalface plate 73 is secured to the insulator block 70 in a mannerillustrated in FIGURE 8 with portions 74 of the face plate being bentover the insulator block 70. The insulator block can'ies three pin-typeterminals 75, 76, and 77. The terminal 76 has a head 7611 which holds acontact 78 in position within the insulating block 70, as illustrated inFIGURE 11. The contactor 78 has a projecting portion 79, the purpose ofwhich will be more fully described hereinafter. The pin-type connector75 has a head portion 80 which serves to prevent withdrawal of theconnector from the insulator body 70. The pin-type connector 75 isconnected with a metal strap 81 which extends across the rear face ofthe insulator block 711. A rivet 82 passes through the metal strap 31and serves to hold an elongated fixed contact 83 in position within arecess formed in the inner wall 84 of the insulator portion 70. Thepin-type connector 77 has a head 85 which serves to hold a metal strapmember 88 within a recess formed in the inner face of the insulatorblock 70. Rivet 89 holds a third conducting strap 99 in fixedrelationship with the inner face of insulator block '70. The conductingstraps 83, 88, and 90 are illustrated in the circuit diagram of FIGURE13, and these conducting straps form fixed contacts for the electricswitch. The rivet 89 positions a conducting strap 92 against the rearface of insulator block 70, the conducting strap 92 being connected toone side of a wirewound resistor 93. The pin-type connector 77 positionsa second conducting strap 94 against the insulator block 70 and thisconducting strap is connected to the opposite side of wire-woundresistor 93.

The insulator block 74? carries a lever supporting member 98 shown inthe sectional views of FIGURES 7 and 9. The member 93 is slotted as at100 to receive cylindrical portion 102 of a lever designated byreference numeral 184. The lever is thus pivotally supported withinmember )8, and pivots around an axis that passes through the center ofthe cylindrical portion 102. The lever is normally held in its positionillustrated in FIG- URE 7 by means of a spring 106 and a bullet-shapedplunger 1%. Both the plunger and spring are disposed within an opening110 formed in insulator block 70.

A second lever generally designated by reference numeral 112 has a knobportion 114 that projects through an opening 116 formed in metal faceplate '73. The lever 112 has a transversely extending portion 117 whichengages the inner face of metal face plate 73. The lever 112, inaddition, has portions 118 each formed with a cam face 120. The leverfurther has a cylindrical portion 122 which carries a spring 124. Thespring 124 in turn surrounds a projecting portion 126 on an electricalcontactor 128 that is formed of suitable electrical conducting material.The contactor 128, as is better illustrated in FIGURE 12, has threeprojecting portions 130, 132, and 134. The contactor 128 has sideflanges formed with openings 128a and 1128b which fit over projections(not shown) extending from the sides of portions 113. The contactor 128thus moves with portions 118 with the walls of the openings 128a and1281; being held against the projections by spring 124. The projectingportion 130 engages the metal strap member 83 at certain positions ofits movement, whereas the projections 132 and 134 cooperate withconducting segments 88 and 90. The lever 112 is thus positioned forslidable movement between the inner face 84 of insulator block 70, andthe inner face of the metal face plate 73. As has been notedhereinbefore, the switch of this invention is a grounding-type switch,and thus the lever 112 will be grounded, as will the contactor 128through spring 124. The lever 112 may either be grounded by connectingthe metal face plate directly to a metal part of a motor vehicle, or byproviding an escutcheon plate 133 that engages the metal face plate '73,and which is attached to the metal part of a motor vehicle such as thedashboard.

The rotatable lever 104 is adapted to be actuated by a metal push button131, which is supported for sliding movement in the escutcheon plate133. The metal push button may carry a plastic knob and is at groundpotential by reason of its slidable connection with escutch eon plate133. The push button plunger 131 is depressed whenever it is desired tocomplete a circuit for the washing apparatus of the system illustratedin the above identified copending application.

In operation, it will be apparent from. the foregoing description, thatthe lever 112 may be actuated to various positions which have beendesignated in the drawings as Off, Low, Medium, and High. Thesepositions refer to the speed of the driving electric motor that drivesthe windshield wiper blades of the above identified copendingapplication. When the lever 112 is in the off position, and when thepush button 131 is depressed, the push button swings the lever 14M andthe end of the lever 105 engages the cam surface 124 of lever 112 tomove it to its low speed position. This sort of movement is depicted inthe sectional view of FIGURE 9, wherein it is seen that the lever 104has been swung to its fully inward position and has moved the lever 112from its off position to its low speed position. When the lever 112 isin its low speed position, it must be manually returned to the oil?position and, of course, may be moved to the medium and high speedpositions by manual actuation thereof. When the lever 104 is swung tothe position illustrated in FIGURE 9, an edge of the lever engages theprojecting portion 79 of contactor 78 to complete an electrical circuitto ground for contactor 78 through lever 104. This circuit may be usedto control the washing apparatus of the system illustrated in the aboveidentified copending application, and it thus is apparent that thewashing circuit will be closed simultaneously with the operation oflever 112 from its off position to its low speed position. In its lowspeed position, the grounded contactor 128 engages fixed contacts 83 and88. In the medium speed position, the grounded contactor 128 engagescontacts 83 and 90, and in its high speed position, the groundedcontactor 128 only engages the fixed contact 83. The spring 106 alwaysreturns the lever 104 to its FIGURE 7 position upon release of the pushbutton 131 so that only a momentary switch closure is actuated by lever104.

Although the switches of this invention have been disclosed asgrounding-type switches, that is of the type wherein a circuit iscompleted to ground through the switch, it is apparent that they may beused in any circuit arrangement wherein it is desired to control twoelectrical circuits and wherein it is desired to complete the twoelectrical circuits at the same time, but wherein only one circuit isonly momentarily closed.

While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A circuit controller comprising, an insulator block carrying aplurality of fixed contacts, a housing secured to said insulator blockand spaced therefrom to form a compartment, a first lever slidablebetween said housing and insulator block, a second lever mounted forswinging movement within said compartment, an opening in said insulatorblock, a spring biased plunger positioned within said opening andcontacting said second lever for holding it against said housing, a camface on said first lever engaging an end portion of said second lever, aspring biased contact carried by said first lever and adapted to engagesaid fixed contacts, and an electrical contact supported by saidinsulator block and adapted to engage said second lever when it is swlmgover a predetermined are.

2. A circuit controller comprising, an insulator block carrying aplurality of fixed electrical contacts, a metal housing secured to saidinsulator block and spaced therefrom to form a compartment, a firstlever engaging said housing, means for holding said lever against saidhousing including a spring attached to said lever and interposed betweensaid lever and a metal contactor that engages said fixed contacts, asecond lever mounted for swinging movement within said compartment, anelectrical contact supported by said insulator block and adapted toengage said second lever when it is swung through a predetermined arc, aspring biased plunger positioned between said insulator block and saidsecond lever for holding said lever against said housing, and a cam faceon said first lever engageable with said second lever whereby said firstlever is moved within said compartment when said second lever is swungthrough said predetermined arc.

3. A circuit controller comprising, an insulator block carrying -aplurality of electrical contacts, a housing secured to said insulatorblock and spaced therefrom to form a compartment, an electricalcontactor carried by a first manually operable lever and adapted toengage one or more of said fixed contacts when said lever is movedWithin said compartment, a second manually operable lever mounted forpivotal movement within said compartment, a fixed contact supported bysaid insulator block and. adapted to directly engage said second leverwhen it is pivoted through a predetermined arc, said first lever beingat times located in the path of movement of said second lever wherebysaid first lever is shifted to a switching position when said secondlever is pivoted through said predetermined arc.

4. A circuit controller comprising, an insulator block carrying aplurality of fixed contacts, a housing secured to said insulator blockand spaced therefrom to form a compartment, a first relatively rigidmanually operable lever mounted for slidable movement within saidcompartment, a second relatively rigid manually operable lever mountedfor pivotal movement within said compartment, means movable with one ofsaid levers for engaging certain of said fixed contacts when it ismoved, contact means carried by spring means that is positioned betweensaid contact means and said one lever for engaging said fixed contactswhen it is moved, biasing means for urging one of said levers to aretracted position, one of said levers being at times located in thepath of movement of the other lever such that movement of one of saidlevers in one direction causa said levers to move together and movementof said one lever in another direction causes said one lever to moverelative to the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS619,900 Miller Feb. 21, 1899 1,854,056 Mott Apr. 12, 1932 1,908,204Winning May 9, 1933 2,447,318 Dazley Aug. 17, 1948 2,594,181 Kliegl Apr.22, 1952 2,725,451 Huck Nov. 29, 1955

